Running from April 30 to May 4, this year’s annual Merced County Spring Fair drew strong attendance with new and returning entertainment and exhibits.

Cinnamon Howell, manager of the Spring Fair, reported that, while the fair is still tabulating the exact numbers, attendance this year was “strong” and potentially up from last year.

“We drew good crowds every day. The weather was definitely on our side this year. We couldn’t have had better weather,” said Howell.

Scott Silveira, a Merced County Supervisor and former fair board member, observed high

“I left at 7 p.m. on Sunday, and the parking lot was pretty much bumper to bumper,” said Silveira.

Silviera, who is one of four auctioneers, including Garett Jones, Colton Pricolo and Joe Silviera, ran the Friday and Saturday livestock auctions.

Despite not including poultry or dairy heifers this year, 720 animals were auctioned off between the large and small livestock auctions, raising $1.1 million.

Advanced sales for carnival wristbands were also up from last year, with nearly 5,000 wristbands sold before the fair opened, beating last year's record-breaking 4,500.

Over 60 vendors were present at the fair, with several of the 18 food vendors reporting record-breaking numbers. New to the fair was Fat Frankie’s Funnel Cakes, which sold funnel cakes and deep-fried Oreos.

Grandstand events also saw strong attendance.

“Our Friday night destruction derby sold out, and the tractor pull nearly sold out. The rodeo sold out at capacity,” said Howell.

Over two thousand exhibitors entered a total of 7602 exhibits, including live exhibits like livestock animals and still exhibits like arts, crafts, wood working and metal.

Entry numbers were also high in the food contests, with a record number of entries in the cookie contest and a strong showing for the Easter pie contest.

10,000 children went through the Little Hands agricultural exhibit. 2500 books, which were donated to the fair through a First 5 Merced County grant, were given to visiting children.

This year saw many new and returning entertainers, including roaming figures like the Fritters' mascot character Ragoo, cow and horse stilt walkers, and stage shows like Skip Banks’ Hollywood on Wheels comedy show and Jack Spareribs’ pirate ship and digital treasure hunt.

Over a dozen local entertainment groups performed on the outside stage throughout the fair, including dance groups and bands.

The livestock pavilion saw improvement this year with new concrete flooring.

“The Morning Star Packing Company made a donation to the fair, and we were able to remove our worn barn mat flooring and put concrete throughout. It was a huge improvement for our livestock barn area,” said Howell.

In addition to the new cement flooring, the Spring Fair Heritage Foundation donated new bleachers for the show ring.

“We always want the perfect fair. Perfect is impossible, of course, but every year we strive for it. Overall, the general public seemed to enjoy the fair,” said Silveira.

When asked about how she felt the fair went overall, Howell shared, “I feel fantastic. The fair was a huge success because of the Los Banos community supporting the fair. We couldn’t do it without their support.”